Please press the play button above to hear the recorded interview, which was recently broadcast on KMFA 89.5.

Sir Antonio Pappano, or “Tony” as he’s known to those who work with him, is an English conductor and pianist who is currently the music director of both the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and of the Orchestra of the St. Cecilia Academy in Rome. Although British by birth, Pappano came to the U.S. as a 13 year old, when his family settled in Connecticut. Pappano would go on to start his career as a rehearsal pianist at New York City Opera, and later came to the attention of fellow pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim who invited him to be his assistant at the Bayreuth Festival. 

Pappano has been music director of the Orchestra of the St. Cecilia Academy in Rome since 2005. That ensemble recently made their first appearance in nearly 50 years at Carnegie Hall in New York City where a tour group of KMFA’s travel program was on hand to witness the occasion. Pappano, who is making his own Carnegie Hall debut, conducted a program featuring two pieces the orchestra first premiered about a century ago, Ottorino Respighi’s "Fountains of Rome" and "Pines of Rome." Pianist Martha Argerich joined the orchestra for a performance of Sergei Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3.

Maestro Pappano spoke about the performance with KMFA's Chris Johnson from the Carnegie Hall Studios last week.